JBS Haldane Lecture 2023: Professor Sarah R Davies

What societies does science communication make? Democracy, persuasion, and the productivity of public communication 

Funders, policy makers, and researchers themselves tend to take for granted that public communication of science is important. But why is that exactly? In this lecture I use empirical material and the science communication literature to parse out some rationales for the value of science communication to society, providing a language for us to talk about its purposes and roles in the societies we live in. Many of these purposes can, I suggest, be related to an imagination of democracy and the correct place of science (and science communication) within it. However, I will also step back from this language to ask to what extent these ideas of science communication for democracy are in fact enacted in contemporary science communication practice. What worlds are being generated in and through different practices of public communication?

Please note that the venue doors will open at 16.30 and the event will start at 17.00.